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If some of the solutions offered by adults involved in decision making about changes needed for Avele are taken seriously, pity help the students and the rest of the country.

The saying is “Up here for thinking and down there for dancing” not the other way around.

Reinstating corporal punishment is not only a step back into the murky past but it goes against all credible thinking and research about the best ways to change behaviours.

It also encourages those teachers, whose only form of control (of themselves and others), is based on lashing out.

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Then we have the brilliant apartheid-type suggestion of keeping Avele students separate from others by having buses that are only for Avele College.

Seriously?

We actually need more contact between school students, not less.

Perhaps the heights of stupidity over school pride could be tempered with some non-competitive events where students actually mix and mingle rather than compete against each other.

Starting with senior students or prefects it could include social gatherings where students yes socialise, hang out and get to know each other. And it could include an inspiring speaker – carefully chosen with less of the boring “In my day ...” stories and more of the interactive conversations with students.

It could also lead to sports events where teams are comprised of a mix of students from the different schools not school versus school.